Top Five War of the Ring Strategies (Shadow)

Learning to play is one thing, but how do you get good? Here's five tips to help you get started as the Shadow in War of the Ring.
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[@michaelhall7080]

Good ideas. The one strategy I would add for the Shadow is that the Witch King and Saruman are not only important for the dice that they add but their abilities (on cards and in play) can be huge benefits to have early. Saruman can muster up a couple of good armies early and the WK can cycle combat cards (the first one each combat) so that you can draw into the key cards you want to play for events and continue to play combat cards without running low on options. This can help either secure the right military cards or give you the ring cards to slow down the fellowship so you can win the war against the free before they destroy the ring.

[@andyn2854]

This video got me a win in my first game! And more importantly, it helped me play well and have a really fun time. I struck hard and fast (1). I mustered armies and moved them against Gondor's borders but I focused down on Rohan (swept across them!) before striking Minas Tirith (2). I brought in the minions as quickly as possible (Saruman turn 1, Witch-King very quickly, and even the Mouth of Sauron for a clutch final turn) - I agree with the poster below that, yes, these are amazing firstly for their dice but also their abilities are truly helpful (3). I did keep a little pressure in the hunt but focused on insane military pressure (4). I did indeed pick my battles and considered every stronghold as viable (5), and I didn't remember you mentioning "even the Grey Havens" but my winning move was taking the Grey Havens! I would just add, like the other poster, bring in the minions for their dice alone (definitely worth it) but also for their ABILITIES. Constantly look at your cards to see how you can make best use of either their normal use or their combat use, and adjust your thinking CONSTANTLY. The NAZGUL have a ton of AMAZING combat cards for them, especially when they're gathered in great numbers - hitting Minas Tirith with the Witch-King and three other Nazgul allowed my very small force to defeat a very impressive army led by Aragorn! And finally, try to MITIGATE the randomness of the dice by making sure you have strong options regardless of what you roll - for example, with my armies on the offensive and my Nazgul leading the charge, I had great use for Army and Character dice, but not much use for Muster - therefore, I constantly drew into Event Strategy cards since they require Muster, that way, if I rolled Muster, I could play cards, and if I rolled Character then I could move armies. Thanks for the great video!

[@RTFM]

Hey, thanks! Glad to hear it worked out so well for you!

[@andyn2854]

@@RTFM Thanks! One of the most fun board game experiences ever! (and on TTS, no less) For as good as I did and as well as I rolled, it was still so tense and close - I took the Grey Havens the last action of a round, and if the Free Peoples had had even a moderately good role they would have surely destroyed the ring. (That being said... he rolled and actually would have been short his needed action still! Very poor rolling for him!)

[@MRdaBakkle]

The Elven Strongholds are pretty easy to take. Elves have the fewest reinforcements and all their leaders are already on the board. Lots of great reinfocements cards that bring in two elites into Moria, to make taking Lorien a breeze. Or even taking Rivendell. The DEW line is also something to be considered (Dale, Erebor, Woodland) That's 5 points and with two more elf strongholds and the shire that's 10 points.

[@alannash2778]

This is especially good advice because it’s not what happens in the books or movies. Follow the cannon strategy if you want to lose!

[@andraslibal]

Here after my first game this was useful, thanks :)

[@RTFM]

Happy to help!

[@BenDeHart]

Sending this to my friend who plays shadow and telling him to "get good".

[@Reilanish]

Awesome video. Looking forward to the expansion videos.

[@RTFM]

Thanks! I'm just waiting on the Kings expansion to be available and then I'll get it out as soon as I can.

[@grzegorzjakubowski1842]

Great video tips! I've just watched it AFTER my game. The fun fuct od that I used all 5 of your tips, going very vell... But finally I've lost because of my stupidy. I've conquered Cities by Cities but... forget to defend at all so Free Folks just captured FOR FREE Dol Guldur & Moria and defeated me...

[@RTFM]

Oh no! Yeah, you gotta keep those defenses up. I always get suckered into going for that kind of win, only for the Shadow player to quickly raise some armies and counterattack.

[@MrReddy64]

Please cover the expansions! I know the last one Kings is coming in the near future.

[@RTFM]

I was planning on waiting for Kings to do all three of them in one video, but the release date got pushed back, so now I'm not sure. If it keeps getting pushed back I'll probably just do the other two some time early next year.

[@surelytentpole2183]

You guys rock

[@RTFM]

Aw, thanks!

[@christophercoley4884]

When is the Nemesis video coming out to the public?

[@RTFM]

The Nemesis base game video will be available for everyone at the end of October. The expansions video will be available for Patreon backers at the same time and everyone else a month later.

[@christophercoley4884]

Thanks, looking forward to it

[@mandyogilvie686]

223 like

[@FlamingoCougar]

First

[@grahamers]

this is top five tactics for one strategy, not five different strategies. Only mentioning b/c your audience knows the difference, so you should, too.

[@thisjustin5330]

Thought This Video Would Be Aight But This Dude Straight Talking Into The Camera 😑

[@Trae_Lenox]

So?